During October 2012, Super Storm Sandy hit the U.S.
northeast coast and caused extensive damage to NIH-funded research and
researchers in the area. Since that time NIH has offered limited competition
awards to grantees in the FEMA-declared Hurricane Sandy major disaster states
using funds appropriated under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act (“DRAA”;
Public Law 113-2), which included up to $149 million of supplemental funding
for NIH to support recovery efforts at impacted institutions. This includes
opportunities for new awards as well as administrative supplements to existing
NIH awards.

The purpose of this Guide Notice is to inform the extramural
community that due to the need for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to
augment our existing controls to handle any additional risks that comes with
disaster relief funding of this magnitude, NIH will provide additional
monitoring to all Hurricane Sandy awards. NIH will also apply special
terms and conditions to all Hurricane Sandy awards to ensure all requirements
of the DRAA are met. A full list of these special terms and conditions is
available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/NIH_DRAA_Award_Terms.pdf.
Additional Terms and Conditions specific to an individual Hurricane Sandy award
may also be included on the Notice of Award.

Special Requirements of NIH Hurricane Sandy awards include:

Maintaining records that identify the source and application of
DRAA funds, and separately identify the expenditures for NIH awards under the
DRAA.

Quarterly programmatic and financial reporting detailing progress
on the award

Requirement of a separate Research Performance Progress Report on
the anniversary of the award's budget start date

Requirement to expend all awarded funds within a 24-month period

Elimination of the option for no-cost extensions to the initial
project period

Limitation on the benefits of the grant award to all or part of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared major disaster States,
which are: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia,
and the District of Columbia.

Reimbursement to NIH for any costs incurred that are subsequently
reimbursed by the FEMA, under a contract for insurance, or by self-insurance.

In addition, administrative supplements awarded with DRAA
funds must comply with the following requirements:

Including specific information on the DRAA additional funding as
part of the annual progress report(s) of the parent grant.

Unless the parent grant is also awarded with DRAA funds,
eliminating the ability for administrative supplement funds to be re-budgeted
or carried over into the parent grant. Any DRAA funding remaining at the end
of the funding period must be reported as an unobligated balance.

Submitting separate closeout documents (Final Progress Report,
Final Federal Financial Report, and Final Invention Statement) for the DRAA
funding at the time the DRAA funding ends, even when the parent grant
continues.

Reporting on the additional funds provided in this award will
also be required as part of normal reporting of the parent grant.